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Dolmetscher Author

Level 1

16 points

Why can I not map the Esc. key to "Show/Hide Viewer on Second Display" in FCP?

While editing in FCP, I like to show the Viewer on my second monitor. To do this, I have to click the little Show/Hide... monitor button in the top right of FCP, or go to: Window > Show in Secondary Display > Viewer. Then to pop out of that view, I have to do the same thing. I'd like to map that feature to the Esc. key, so that I can toggle back and forth between that "view".

So, I went to: Final Cut Pro > Commands > Customize... using the graphic keyboard that pops up, I find the Command labeled: Show/Hide Viewer on Second Display. I press the Esc key to see it, and I see the little "Esc" icon show up in the "Key" column, No Modifier. I click Save... but... the key command does not work. When I press the Esc key, I just hear that annoying little plop sound that you hear when you press an invalid key on a Mac.

I tried restarting FCP. Still doesn't work.

I tried to reopen Final Cut Pro > Commands > Customize... and the Esc. key command did "Save" properly for: "Show/Hide Viewer on Second Display". But... it still just doesn't work. Is there some kind of rules with FCP that some keys are just "off limits" for keyboard commands, because they would conflict with the OS? If so... why would the FCP Custom Commands feature let me Save it... but not use it?

Posted on Feb 23, 2023 2:57 PM

Top-ranking reply

Luis Sequeira1

Level 9

67,594 points

Posted on Feb 23, 2023 11:22 PM

You can certainly create a shortcut for this, but NOT by using the escape key.

The escape key is sort of special, not just for FCP, but throughout the OS, so it is not an acceptable choice as a keyboard shortcut.

Just choose an available shortcut and assign it, like, say... Command-Control-Option-V, as in "V" for viewer; the three modifiers are right next to each other, and Command-V (paste), Command-Option-V (paste effects) and Command-Shift-V (paste attributes) are already taken, so this seems a nice option. Of course, you can choose a different one, and FCP makes it easy to see which ones are taken and which are not.

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Why can I not map the Esc. key to "Show/Hide Viewer on Second Display" in FCP?

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